Problem: What is the ones digit of $1^{2009} + 2^{2009} + 3^{2009} + \cdots + 2009^{2009}?$
Let's investigate the ones digits of successive powers of each of the integers from 0 through 9.  At each step, we can throw away any digits other than the ones digits.  Take 8 as an example: $8^1$ ends in 8, $8\times 8$ ends in 4, $8\times 4$ ends in $2$, $8\times 2$ ends in 6, $8\times 6$ ends in 8, and the pattern repeats from there.  Therefore, the ones digits of $8^1, 8^2, 8^3, \ldots$ are $8, 4, 2, 6, 8, 4, 2, 6, \ldots$.  The results for all the digits are shown below.

\[
\begin{array}{c|c}
n & \text{ones digit of } n, n^2, n^3, \ldots \\ \hline
0 & 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, \ldots \\
1 & 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, \ldots \\
2 & 2, 4, 8, 6, 2, 4, \ldots \\
3 & 3, 9, 7, 1, 3, 9, \ldots \\
4 & 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, \ldots \\
5 & 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, \ldots \\
6 & 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, \ldots \\
7 & 7, 9, 3, 1, 7, 9, \ldots \\
8 & 8, 4, 2, 6, 8, 4, \ldots \\
9 & 9, 1, 9, 1, 9, 1, \ldots \\
\end{array}
\]The lengths of the repeating blocks for these patterns are 1, 2, and 4.  Therefore, for any digit $d$ and any exponent $a$ which is one more than a multiple of 4, the ones digit of $d^a$ is $d$.  Also, if $n$ is a positive integer, then the ones digit of $n^a$ only depends on the ones digit of $n$. Therefore, for any positive integer $n$ and any exponent $a$ which is one more than a multiple of 4, the ones digit of $n^a$ is the ones digit of $n$.   Let us write ``$\equiv$'' to mean ``has the same ones digit as.''  Since $2009$ is one more than a multiple of 4, we find \begin{align*}
1^{2009}+2^{2009}+\cdots+2009^{2009} &\equiv 1 + 2 + 3 +\cdots 2009 \\
&=\frac{2009(2010)}{2} \\
&= 2009(1005) \\
&\equiv 9\cdot 5 \\
&\equiv \boxed{5}.
\end{align*}